Sunbury Bridge Club president Michael Francis joined the club in about 2008 after seeing a notice for new members in the local paper.
Sixteen years on he is encouraging others to do the same and cites the mental and social benefits as a reason to join.
“I had always wanted to play, I played a bit with my parents when I was younger and pretty much fell in love with it when I started playing,” Mr Francis said.
“To be fair it’s been amazing, the people we have at the club are just so friendly. I’ve said it before, we’re the friendliest bridge club in Melbourne, and I stand by that.”
“Most of the members are 70 plus years old and so many people have become lifelong friends because of the club.”
Mr Francis said it is a great social gathering for all the members and people don’t need to be bridge experts to join.
“The thing they say about bridge is that it keeps your mind active… you have to use your mind so much to play it’s a very thinking game.
“Every Tuesday we start at 12.45pm, and from about 11.30am I run lessons every week. They are informal so if anybody wants to contribute what they want to learn they can.”
The club is looking for players to join on Tuesday afternoons at 12.45pm and/or Wednesday evenings at 6.30pm.
The games are held in the Lounge at Club Sunbury in Riddell Road and they started back up on January 9.
If anyone wants to know more or ask questions, Mr Francis said they can contact him to have a chat.
Contact: 0400 737 005.
Zoe Moffatt
